A Man Possessed
by 50 shades of smoke damage
Summary: Every fire station has it's ghosts and Blackwall's has decided to make it's presence felt.
1. Chapter 1

The night shift. Beyond the station walls the city of London remained alive, an urban landscape that rarely slept. Inside Blackwall the majority of Blue Watch slept soundly. Pearce sat in his office, sorting through his paper work. The Green Watch Commander had left him various notes, one of which concerned the 'hot boxes' located at the back of the drill yard. The metal compartments were used for training and could be set up to simulate various fire conditions using gas as fuel. As such they were a very controlled environment to work in. According to the note, the hot boxes weren't working and Green Watch _'had not had time'_ to attempt to fix them and would be _'extremely grateful'_ if Blue Watch could look into the problem before Green came back on shift the next day. Pearce sighed and glanced at his watch. He would grab a coffee, head out to look at the boxes then return to the paper work...yet more bloody paper work.

On entering the mess he was surprised to find Rob standing at the window, a steaming mug in one hand, the other in his pocket. The Irishman turned slightly to glance at Pearce over his shoulder before his gaze returned to the window,

"Mornin Sub"

"Rob? What are you doing up?"

"Can't sleep, there's a fresh pot of brew on the bench" Rob said simply, motioning with his head towards the kitchen. Pearce poured himself a cup, savouring the smell before putting the cup to his lips. Ah bliss, nothing beat a good cup of coffee. Rob was still staring out the window.

"Good view?"

Rob chuckled lightly,

"Nah, not really" he said turning away from the widow and leaning against the wall, a gentle smile on his lips,

"Too much on my mind, that's my problem Geoff. What's yours?"

Geoff took another swig of coffee,

"The mountain of paper work on my desk...and on top of that Green have left a note saying that the hot boxes are buggered, I'm on my way out to see if I can fix them"

Rob pushed himself away from the wall,

"I can do that if you like Geoff"

"Yeah?"

"Sure, I need a distraction and I love a good challenge"

Pearce regarded him critically for a moment as Rob treated him to an enthusiastic grin,

"Well...ok then, full PPE and make sure you isolate the gas"

Rob dropped his cup in the sink and trotted towards the door,

"No problem Sub, Hyper's on the case!"

Pearce shook his head,

"I'm sure he is" he mumbled as the door closed.

Rob made his way through the dark, soot stained interior of the steel hot boxes searching for the panel that hid the main gas shut of valve. Old, battered furniture was strewn around the floor space and the doors creaked and groaned on their rusted hinges. The main lighting cast a dim, dingy, yellow glow around the space forcing Rob to use his torch. He eventually found the panel and managed to turn the gas off. As he shut the panel the lights flickered then died completely. Rob sighed and stood up,

"Bloody sparks" he muttered and picked up to tool box he had brought with him. Blackwall's hot boxes had a reputation for breaking down, faulty electrics and strange goings on. In his time at Blackwall, Rob had heard stories of ghosts, every fire station had them...apparently, but Rob didn't believe in all that mumbo jumbo...he just thought the electrics were shit. He turned, heading for the next room and felt a chill pass through him. He shivered but thought nothing of it, the night had been threatening rain and the storms pushed the cold air in front of them as they moved up the river. Pulling the neck of his tunic closer, Rob began to look for the fault in the system, shining his torch amongst the network of pipes. Behind him the door creaked. Rob glanced over his shoulder, shining his torch towards the door. The beam cut a swath through the darkness but didn't pick out a figure. Rob shrugged and returned to his task. The door slammed shut, the bang echoing round the steel shell. Hyper jumped to his feet, his heart hammering in his chest,

"Adam? Hi-Ho?...Sally?"

He strode over to the door and found it wouldn't budge. He put his shoulder into the metal but still the door wouldn't move,

"Come on guys, not funny...guys?"

Silence. No giggling or shuffling footsteps.

"Shit"

Behind him the tool kit clinked, a spanner skidded across the floor, bouncing off of his boot. Rob swung the torch beam around the room, determined to catch one of his colleagues in the act. He was feeling cold again, his breath crystallising in front of him. The beam of light picked something out on the wall and he frowned as he moved towards it. Writing, shaky and hesitant, scratched into the soot stained wall. He was positive it wasn't there before.

'_C_ **o **l_i_ _n_'

"Colin? Who the –"

His torch went out, plunging him into pitch darkness,

"Oh for fucks sake!"

Holding out his hands in front of him, he shuffled towards the wall. Eventually his hands touched the cold steel. He was well and truly stuck, he hadn't brought a radio or a phone with him. He would have to shout and hope someone in the station would hear him, but as he drew breath a movement in the darkness made him stop. Straining his eyes he could make a deeper area of blackness, vaguely man shaped, as it moved like a broken puppet along the far wall. Rob stood stunned, his back pressed against the wall. Slowly he began to recite the Lord's Prayer, feeling stupid at the same time as being too scared to try and rationalise what he was seeing. The shape stopped as if scrutinizing him, and then it rushed forward. Rob tired to duck away, but found he was pinned, he couldn't move! His chest constricted with fear, he couldn't breathe. Blood pounded in his ears as complete darkness filled his vision, pain flared behind his eyes and he felt himself slide down the wall as consciousness slipped away.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as Sally got Rob through the door of their flat she guided him straight to bed. On the car journey home he had become quiet and withdrawn again,

"Do you want something to eat..drink?"

Rob, sat on the edge of the bed, shook his head slowly,

"No...do we have any pain killers?"

"Yep, but you can't have them on an empty stomach. Tea, toast, paracetamol, sleep...order of the day, ok?"

Rob nodded and Sally headed for the kitchen. She returned to find Rob, still sat on the bed, with his head in his hands, rocking slowly back and forth. A floor board crecked beneath her foot and Rob instantly looked up, his whole demeanour changing as he forced a smile on to his lips,

"Thanks Sal" he said taking the cup and plate from her. Sally lean't against the wall, watching him closely,

"Are you ok Rob? Seriously?"

"I'm fine Sal honestly, I just need to get rid of this head ache, get some sleep and I'll be right as rain for the shift tonight...you don't have to worry"

For the rest of the morning Sally tiptoed around the flat, trying to make as little noise as possible, but she could hear that Rob was restless. Occasionally he would get up and pace around the bedroom or groan with frustration. When he had finally gone quiet, she made herself a coffee and settled down with a book, but she had barely got started when the bedroom door banged open and Rob ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. As she stood to follow him she heard the lock click. She banged on the door,

"Rob? Are you alright mate?...Rob?!"

Rob gripped the edge of the wash basin, his knuckles turning white. He was going mad, he must be. He had tried to hide it from Sally and the rest of the watch, put a brave face on it, but inside he was falling apart. He remembered what happened in the hot boxes, that awful dark shape rushing at him then a constant, intrusive presence at the back of his mind. His head throbbed, a splitting headache that made him feel as though someone was trying to force his eyeballs out of their sockets. He felt constantly sick, as though his body was trying to reject something. But what was worse was the voice, a tormenting, nasty little voice that plagued him as he lay in the dark trying to sleep, that rifled through his memories and dissected them, warped them and turned them into nightmares. The voice told him that he was disgusting, unnatural and unworthy of the uniform. That he was useless and unloved. He splashed some cold water onto his face. He was aware of Sally banging on the door,

'You're useless'

"No"

'You're disgusting'

"No"

'You're unworthy'

Rob shook his head, trying to dislodge that awful voice and make it go away. He looked up into the mirror and the face that looked back at him wasn't his,

'You're mine!'

"Rob, open the damn door before I put it in!" Sally yelled, still hammering on the door. Suddenly the door opened and Rob draped himself in the door way,

"S'up Sal?"

"What's up? What are you playing at?!" Sally was livid. Rob raised an eyebrow and shrugged,

"Call of nature Love, that's all"

Sally ran a hand through her hair,

"I thought you'd collapsed, this whole episode is very unusual for you. I'm concerned Rob...I care about you"

"Hey" Rob crooned, stepping forward and embracing her, "I'm fine babe, really. Although I love the fact that you care for me"

He dipped his head into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply, his hands sliding down her back to gently cup her buttocks. Sally stepped back away from him, momentarily shocked. Rob stood and looked down at her, bare chested, with a strange look in his eyes that she hadn't seen before. He smiled at her,

"Is it time for work yet?"

Sally glanced at her watch,

"Yeah, you feeling better?"

"Much" he stepped forward and stroked her cheek, "I've had the best nurse in the world, you could make the dead feel better"

Sally turned away, forcing a smile as she went to change for work,

"I don't think so" she said over her shoulder and as she went into her bedroom, Rob, watching her from the hallway said quietly,

"I do", and grinned.


End file.
